Airplane wing



Aug.9, 1949. s TRIEYV 2,478,726 4 A'I'RPLANE WING Filed July 2, 1946 INVENTQR AaATroRNEY Patented Aug. 9, 1949 AIRBLANE WING uw'rmeneuehhurst, N. y.

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face of the wing. It is alszr an object inventionto produce this mass' new by disehar ing-" air from bet-ween vanes inthewing; 'A: fur ther' object is to produce this=mass= flow-incumbination with a jet ofair discharged fromtife leading edge of the wing. Still another object is to build up this mass fiow out of superimposed streams of air of difierent velocities, the velocity of each stream being greater than the velocity of the stream below it. Another object of the invention is to cause the discharge from between the vanes to be in tangential relation to the surface of the wing. A further object is to constrict the air passages between the vanes near the entry of the air and to expand the passages towards the exits of the air. A still further object is to make the exits wider as they progress away from the leading edge of the wing. In some cases, it is an object of the invention to have the levels of the exits for the discharged air step down progressively towards the leading edge of the wing. Other objects, not specifically mentioned above, will be apparent from the specification which follows and from the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a schematically drawn profile of a wing embodying the present invention. The wing contains only two of the vanes mentioned in the preamble.

Figure 2 is a similar profile of a wing containing three vanes.

Figure 3 is a similar profile, with three vanes, but the exits of the air passages are stepped down towards the leading edge.

Referring to the figures in detail, in Figure 1, I is the profile of a wing embodying the present invention, II and H are vanes, separated by the air passage l4, and from the main body of the win by the air passage IS. The air passage 3 separates the vane II from the leading edge Hi. The air passages l4 and I5 are constricted near the entry of the air and widened at the exits of the air, I! and I8. It will be noted further that the exit I 8 is wider than The object of the'present invention" 2 the: exit. 11;; emitter-tile vanes II and ea/re; intangential? relation" to: theupper surface of the] wing; The air in this iliustrationis sup' pliediby' a blower B' from which the air is led ifq the'wihg" thnough" the opening; l9." The-air" discharge 7 from the exit l8 will formt'astream" close to: the: surface ofi'thewing the" air dis changed from the exit; 'IIf. will form a stream" over the, one discharged'irom It; Theai'n dis chargetff. from the slotirrthe leading; edge It, referred to here' as" the air jfet, 'tops""the two streams. discharged from 17 and1'8. Owing to the 'facfithat the-exit P8 is wider-than: the exit IT; and that bother them are widerthan" the opening in the air jet slot Hi, the velocityofthe several streams will be diflerent; namely, high.- est on-to p', it e. where-thestream emanatesironithe leading edge slot, and lowest at the bottom, i. e. where the stream emanates from the exit l8. Owing to the fact that the strictures of the passages at the entry of air into the passages I l and I5 reduce the width of these passages to the width of the slot IS, the velocity of the air at the entry into the passages l4 and [5 will be the same as the velocity of the airjet, but as the passages I4 and I5 widen towards the exits, the velocities of the air in these passages will decrease as the air is discharged. This relationship of the streams, both as to position and as to velocity, causes a compact, uniform fiow of a mass of air over the surface of the wing, functioning just as would a structural raising of the camber.

Referring to Figure 2 in detail, the wing profile 20 is similar to the wing profile I 0 of Figure 1, but the air is supplied through an linet 32 instead of from a blower. The wing has three vanes 2|, 22 and 23, the entries of air being again constricted at 25, 26 and 21 to a width substantially equal to the width of the slot 28 in the leading edge of the wing, and expanded exits 29, 30 and 3| are provided for the passages which also increase in width from 29 to 3|. The vanes are again in tangential relation to the upper surface of the win to insure close adherence to this surface. The mass flow over the wing in this case is composed of four superimposed streams, the top stream being the one emanating from the slot in the leading edge, the stream below it emanating from the exit 29, and so on, the lowest stream, emanating from the exit 3| being the one closest to the wing surface. The velocities of these streams, as in the former case, decrease from the top stream to the bottom stream.

Wings with more than three vanes exhibit the same characteristics and need not be illustrated.

Referring to Figure 3, the only difference between this case and the one illustrated in Fi ure 2, is that the exits 49, 50 and 5| are in a step formation, the exit 49 being below the exit 50, and the exit 50 below the exit 5|. In some cases, this modification of the invention is desirable in order to enhance the camber raising property of the created mass flow of air over the wing.

It is believed that the above illustrations are ample to clarify the scope of the invention, which is expressed in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In an airplane wing, means for increasing the flow of air over the upper surface of the wing, said means comprising an air duct within said wing, said duct having an outlet to the upper surface of the wing extending from the leading edge thereof rearwardly and means located in the duct dividing the outlet thereof into openings for providing a plurality of superimposed airstreams, said means being so shaped and proportioned as to provide decreasin emis-' sion velocities of said airstreams from the forwardmost stream rearwardly, whereby the camber of the wing is increased.

2. An airplane Wing according to claim 1,

wherein the air for the ducts is supplied through.

an entry underneath the wing.

3. An airplane wing according to claim 1, wherein the air for .the ducts is supplied by power means.

4. In an aircraft wing, means for increasing the flow of air over the upper surface of the 4 wing, said means comprising an air duct within said wing, said duct having an outlet to the upper surface of the wing extending from the leading edge thereof rearwardly and vanes located in the duct dividing the outlet thereof into passages, the inner portion of said vanes being enlarged so as to provide uniformly constricted passages in the interior of the wing and expanded passages near the wing surface, said vanes being'further so shaped and proportioned that the width of the passages at their exits progressively increase from the leading edge rearwardly whereby a plurality of superimposed streams of different velocities decreasing from the forwardmost stream rearwardly is produced.

5. An airplane wing according to claim 4,

"wherein the ducts at the place of stricture are substantially of the same width as the width of the air passage between the leading edge of the wing and the first one of the vanes.

6. An airplane wing according to claim 4, wherein the exits from the ducts are in step formation.

SERGE 'I'REY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,496,733 Page June 3, 1924 2,041,792 Stalker May 26, 1936 2,041,794 Stalker May 26, 1936 2,395,513 Stalker Feb. 26, 1946 

